Citation

Tyler I. Fem. Theor. 2009; 10(1): 77-98.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1464700108100393

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article is about the theoretical life of 'the abject'. It focuses on the ways in which Anglo-American and Australian feminist theoretical accounts of maternal bodies and identities have utilized Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection. Whilst the abject has proved a compelling and productive concept for feminist theory, this article cautions against the repetition of the maternal (as) abject within theoretical writing. It argues that employing a Kristevan abject paradigm risks reproducing, rather than challenging, histories of violent disgust towards maternal bodies. In place of the Kristevan model of the abject, it argues for a more thoroughly social and political account of abjection. This entails a critical shift from the current feminist theoretical preoccupation with the 'transgressive potentiality' of 'encounters with the abject' to a consideration of consequences of being abject within specific social and political locations.